What PM said is hate speech, our manifesto talks of justice for all: Mallikarjun Kharge

Reacting sharply to his remarks, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said “no Prime Minister in the history of India has lowered the dignity of his office as much as Modi.” He said Modi’s “panic-filled” speech showed that the Opposition INDIA bloc was winning the first phase of elections which was held on April 19.

“What Modiji said was hate speech and also a well thought-out ploy to divert attention. Today, the Prime Minister did what he has learnt from the values of the Sangh,” Kharge said in a post on X.

Opp INDIA bloc leaders Priyanka Chaturvedi, Kalpana Soren, Sanjay Singh, Bhagwant Mann, Akhilesh Yadav, Champai Soren, Farooq Abdullah and Rajesh Thakur in Ranchi, Sunday. (PTI)

“Uttering lies to gain power and making baseless references to things to foist false accusations on opponents are the speciality of the training of the Sangh and BJP. The 140 crore people of this country are not going to fall for these lies…Our manifesto is for every Indian…It talks about equality and justice for all… The basis of the Congress’s nyay patra is truth, but it seems the chair of the dictator in the form of Goebbels is wobbling,” he said.

“The level of the lies of Narendra Modi has fallen so much after facing disappointment in the first phase of elections… that out of fear he now wants to divert people’s attention from issues. Trends have started coming in regarding the immense support the Congress’s revolutionary manifesto is receiving,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X.

The country, he said, will not go astray and people will vote on issues like employment and their future.

The Congress said that its manifesto does not use the words Hindu or Muslim. “The Prime Minister of the country has lied yet again. To win an election, would you lie again and again? Your guarantees, your jumlas and your promises are all lies… but now you are serving lies to the people in the name of Hindu-Muslim. The Congress manifesto has no mention of the words Muslim and Hindu. We challenge the Prime Minister to show the words Muslims and Hindus in the manifesto… The Congress manifesto talks about nyay (justice) for youth, women, tribals, workers…our manifesto shows the mirror to the Prime Minister and his actions,” the party’s media department head, Pawan Khera, said.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge

He said the Prime Minister has “wasted the last 10 years talking about Hindu and Muslim” and has now resorted to “Hindu-Muslim” again at the time of elections. “He should be ashamed for lying and for trying to divide the country,” he said.

The Congress, however, did not comment on Manmohan Singh’s remarks made in 2006.

Addressing a meeting of the National Development Council in December 2006, Singh had flagged the need for judicious use of resources. “I believe our collective priorities are clear. Agriculture, irrigation and water resources, health, education, critical investment in rural infrastructure, and the essential public investment needs of general infrastructure, along with programmes for the upliftment of SCs/STs, other backward classes, minorities and women and children. The component plans for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will need to be revitalized. We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources,” he had said.

As Singh’s remarks triggered a political firestorm, the PMO had issued a clarification the next day. “Through a deliberate and mischievous misinterpretation of what the Prime Minister said…at the meeting of the National Development Council, on fiscal priorities of the government, an avoidable controversy has been generated. The Prime Minister’s observations have also been quoted out of context in some sections of the electronic media, fuelling a baseless controversy,” the PMO had said.

“Prime Minister’s reference to ‘first claim on resources’ refers to all the ‘priority’ areas… including programmes for the upliftment of SCs, STs, OBCs, women and children and minorities…These observations of the Prime Minister were made after referring to the very good performance of the Indian economy in recent months, and the expectation that the economy would continue to do well, creating new income and employment opportunities for all sections of society. While better-off sections of society will benefit from this process, it is the responsibility of the government to pay special attention to the welfare of weaker and marginalised sections. The Prime Minister has said on several occasions that ‘India must shine, but shine for all’,” the PMO had said.

This is not the first time that Modi has mentioned Singh’s remarks. In October last year, countering Rahul Gandhi on his call for “jitni aabadi utna haq” while campaigning for the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, Modi had said: “Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh used to say that minorities have the first right to the country’s resources… And in that too Muslims… But now the Congress is saying that the population of the community will decide who will have the first right… Now do they (Congress) want to decrease the rights of the minority? Do they want to remove the minorities? Should the Hindus, who have the largest population, come forward and take all their rights?” he had said.

Congress sources said the party could approach the Election Commission to draw its attention to Modi’s remarks on Sunday.

Meanwhile, several Opposition leaders too hit out at Modi over his remarks. “Modi today called Muslims infiltrators and said that they have more children. Since 2002, the only Modi guarantee has been to abuse Muslims and get votes. If we are talking about the wealth of the country, then in the Modi government, his billionaire friends have had the first claim. Today, 1% of the people of India own 40% of the country’s wealth. The common Hindus are being shown the fear of Muslims, but the truth is that someone else is getting rich with your money,” AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said in a post on X.

Posting a video clip of Modi’s speech, P Thiaga Rajan, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu minister, said: “Rest in peace… Election Commission of India.”

“Modi has realised that no one is buying his ‘guarantee’ rubbish anymore & that he’s a liar. So he’s back to doing the only thing he knows — spewing hate speech. EC is sleeping as usual & won’t act. But fact — Modi is rattled beyond imagination,” TMC leader Saket Gokhale posted.

“His speech is extremely misleading, hateful in content and is as divisive as it can get. It explains two things clearly – 1. This cannot be the language of a party speaking of a third term but more a language of desperation. 2. Election Commision is clearly avoiding any action against such hate and bile,” Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said on X.